In-person couples therapy allows for fewer limitations than on screen
We often say, half joking, that couples are on their best behavior when they come to our New York couples therapy for their first session, but that doesn’t last. Good thing. The difficult messes of relationship challenges and a couple’s mental health need to be contended with in therapy. Part of what couples counseling challenges, at its best, is the strict privacy of love relationships and family. Many cherish the relationship as a private space, but that privacy doesn’t always serve couples’ mental health well. Working with a couples therapist, including a licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT) is an act of inviting someone into your relationship, specifically the relationship issues. Having a therapist see the mess and the struggle, coming to know the relationship as much as possible, offers the opportunity to guide and help conflict resolution and rebuild trust.
When this invitation comes with strict controls, like only relating to a couple through a screen, it limits how helpful a couples therapist can be. In-person couples counseling, including marriage therapy, premarital counseling, and relationship counseling, allows a therapist to see the relationship more fully in an environment outside of the partners’ everyday routine rather than in the comfort of their home or office. This creates a space that is closer to real life, where couples can “let their guard down” to give a clinician better insight into a relationship and the couple’s communication skills.